How to buy a ticket
Hi City Link users, and those who don't have a car that goes beep! Well as some of you know, I work in public transport. A little while ago I was a naughty girl, and I have now been enduring station work for a while. Because of the Grand Prix in Melbourne, I've been moved to a busier station, where I am selling tickets. But enough about me, this post is about you, or more importantly the morons who get around amoungst the idiots, whoget around amoungst the dumb arses. I think that pretty much includes everyone. Here is the typical way a dialogue goes for a ticket sale, "I" meaning person who wants a ticket, or idiot. "R" meaning me, Rebecca: R: Hi, can I help you? I: I'd like a ticket. R: Sure, what kind? I: For the train. R: Well where do you want to go to? I: Oh I'm just going home. R: Well unless you live at a station, which is the closest one to your home? I: Oh sorry, I'm going to Mitcham. [note random station name used here, not all people from Mitcham are idiots] R: Are you going to travel again after that today, or are you just going to Mitcham and that is it? I: Nah, I'm just going home. R: OK, that's a Zones 1&2, 2 hourly, full fare. $5.10 I: Umm, ok, here you go. [hands me a $50 note or higher denomination] R: [prints ticket] Here is your change, $44.90, and your ticket. [idiot looks at ticket] I: What are you doing charging me full fare, I have a concession. R: Well you didn't tell me you had a concession, hand that ticket back and I will change, it. Do you have your concession card on you? I: Here you go [shows school id card] R: This card doesn't entitle you to a concession, you need a Victorian Student Concession Card. I: You're just a f*#%ing bitch, everyone else accepts it. R: Well you have two options here, take the full fare ticket, or no ticket. I: I'm going to report you for this. R: Please do, I am happy for you to report that I am doing my job correctly, would you like the contact details of where to send the feedback too? I: F@$&k you bitch, f^!*k you! R: Thank you, [next person] Hi can I help you? I2: Hi, I'd like a ticket.... As you can see people have no idea. Now if you average the average (Huh?) ticket price to be $5, yesterday I sold about $7000 worth of tickets in an 8 hour shift. That amounts to about 1400 idiots I had to deal with in the day. So here is my plea. Have a Metcard ticket machine installed in your bedroom. When you get up in the morning, try to purchase a ticket from it. If you can't do that, go back to bed, the world doesn't deserve to have you in it's existance. Blog out, HooRoo Bec
posted by Rebecca @ 3/06/2005 09:29:00 am
5 Comments:
Mehhh, take some solace in the fact that not all Melbourne public transport users are idiots of the sort you mentioned otherwise you'd have to deal with far more of them.
My monthly rules...(although the old school yearly was better.)
Hi Ishan,
Thanks for the comments. If people generally don't have a clue, no issues with me. We get tourists, people who haven't used the system in years, people who have never caught a train. I have no issue with these people, they don't know what they want, and I am more than helpful with them. What I hate is the idiots who use the system regularly, who are just plain old dumb shits. These people have a few old tickets in their wallet, and it is like drawing blood from a stone to find out what they want. They then get irate with you for asking so many questions and get abusive. The problem is, these kind of people make up about 2/3rd of the cattle. It gets to you.
HooRoo
Bec
You go into a supermarket and pay the asking price. You go into a harware store and pay the correct price. You hire a plumber and pay what he asks. What is it about public transport that makes people feel they can cheat and/or not pay the correct price and then abuse the representative of it?
I expect much of the blame lies in fellow workmates who don't enforce the rules. They get away with it once and they quite confidently can say, well the last person let me do it or ignored it, why can't you?
Hi All,
Looks like we have a couple more people reading my blog who are also on the system. :-)
If you want to check concession cards Darkseason, try the guy who yesterday showed me his 2003 student concession card, and got really nasty when I said that was invalid. His arguement was "Well I am still at school so this is fine to use." I said "Well it expired on Feb 29, 2004. Would you drink milk that was that far past its expiry date?" Yet again another person who wanted to see my manager about my attitude.
Andrew, you are right. Before I worked in PT, I was in sales. People would always complain about price. I'd say to them "You go into a milkbar and get a Big M, and you have just enough money for the Big M. When you get up to the counter, you see the Mars Bars, and you really want one of them too, but you don't have the money. Is the shopkeeper going to just let you take it?"
I always work out the cheapest fare for people (as much as I hate doing it, but I have to do my time before going back to driving), but at the end of the day, I know I can sleep well at night knowing that I did the right thing at work.
HooRoo
Rebecca
Mate, no worries. Go for it- I'm packing a brand-spanking-new-only-$8 concession card. RMIT full-time student, ahhhh life is sweet. Only time I've been in trouble on PT, had my feet on the seat for some random reason, but managed to sweet-talk my way out of it.
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